The deal brings new ownership and the prospect of further expansion to a chain that grew out of a one-man store on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit.

Terms of the deal were not released, but a Crain's analysis of comparable deals puts the value of the sale in the range of $550 million.

The Royal Bank of Canada, Deloitte LLP and Bodman PLC advised Van Elslander in the deal, which is expected to close in February. Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as financial adviser to Thomas H. Lee.

Following the deal's closing, Art Van Furniture's management team will remain in place, with Kim Yost continuing to serve as CEO, Van Elslander's son Gary remaining president of Art Van Furniture and his son David continuing as president of Art Van PureSleep.

"Over the years, Warren Buffett tried to buy me a couple times," Art Van Elslander said. "I came very close to selling to him twice, but it came to 11th hour, and I said, 'I'm just not ready.'"

Today is a different story.

Van Elslander said he's satisfied with where he's taken the company he founded in a small store on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit.

He started the company as "a one-man show," buying, selling, cleaning, dusting and putting furniture together.

"Everything you'd normally hire eight to 10 people to do, I was doing it alone in 4,000 square feet on Gratiot," Van Elslander said.

"I went in thinking I'm going to make a living for my family. I wanted to be in my own business. That was a desire I had as a kid … but I never dreamt I'd be near $1 billion."

Just more than four years ago, Art Van Furniture opened its first franchise in Alpena and its first store outside of Michigan in a former movie theater in Toledo.

Today, its is among the largest independent furniture retailers in the country, with more than 100 stores in five states, a franchising program and more than 3,500 employees.

"Thomas H. Lee are just wonderful people ... the kind of people who are really concerned about people," Van Elslander said.

The private equity firm looks forward to working with the entire team at Art Van to continue to aggressively expand the company, Jeff Swenson, managing director at Thomas H. Lee, said in a prepared statement.

Founded in 1974, Thomas H. Lee has a history of investing in growth-oriented businesses and in consumer and retail brands such as 1-800 Contacts, Bargain Hunt Superstores, Dunkin' Brands, Fogo de Chao and Party City. It manages $22 billion of equity capital.

A lot of the auto deals done during the recession were distressed properties that necessitated cost-cutting moves, but that doesn’t appear to be the case with Art Van.

Wybo doesn’t believe Art Van’s new ownership group plans to roll it up with similar companies. Art Van brings strong market share and has been able to demonstrate growth outside of its traditional Michigan market.

“Seems to me this is probably a growth play and Thomas H. Lee ... potentially will push the gas pedal down on putting capital … into a growth strategy.”

At the same time, the new ownership group is likely to look for ways it can gain economies of scale for things like marketing and accounting between Art Van and its other portfolio companies, he said. And it may look to streamline any duplicated operations, given its large number of stores.